Author's Note: This story takes place during the episode 'Just a Little Help'. Some back ground for the episode: Ben and Michael are a gay couple who take in a 16 year old boy named Hunter. They meet Hunter outside their apartment building because he has picked that spot to hustle, and they keep trying to get him to quit. Once Hunter is living with them and starts to turn his life around, his mother shows up and wants custody of him. Ben and Michael find out that Hunter's mother forced him to start selling himself for money when he was 12, and then put him in foster care at some point after that. He then ran away and lived off the streets hustling for about a year. When Michael finds out that Hunter's mother is there to take him back, he takes Hunter and runs so that his mom can't get to him. Then they run out of cash, and Hunter decides to help, which is where my story starts. Written in February 2008.Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and I am not making any money from these stories. Warning: Non consensual disciplinary spanking of a teen by a parental figure.

One More Job

Michael was frustrated beyond belief. He'd been looking for Hunter for over an hour. He muttered to himself, "Fucking kid. If he took off again I'm gonna I'm gonna have a heart attack is what I'm gonna do."

Thinking back on things, Michael wondered if he had handled the situation the right way or not. Running didn't exactly show Hunter how to be a responsible adult, but at the same time, not running could mean Hunter would have to move back in with his abusive mother. He muttered again, "Six months ago I didn't even know the kid, and now I can't imagine what Ben and I would do without him."

He went into a convenience store, which was at the truck stop across the street from the motel, and got the attention of the woman at the counter. "Excuse me, have you seen a teenage boy come through here in the last half an hour? He has light brown hair, he's kind of foul mouthed and probably had a bad attitude."

She gave him a 'don't be stupid look' and said, "You just described every teenager that comes in here."

Annoyed Michael said, "It's really important. Have there been any teenagers in here for the past half an hour?"

"At least twenty."

Michael sighed and said, "Thanks anyway."

He walked out and decided to look around the parking lot. He looked into the distance and couldn't believe his eyes. He saw a form that looked a lot like Hunter's getting out of a semi truck that was parked in the lot. As the form got closer he was sure it was Hunter. Hunter saw Michael and waved as he got closer. Michael stood where he was, and when Hunter got close enough he said, "Hunter! Where the fuck have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"

Pleased with himself and smirking, Hunter said, "C'mon. Dinner's on me." as he waved some cash in Michael's face.

Michael wanted it not to be true, but suspected it was. He asked, "Where did you get that? How many truckers did you have to fuck to get it?"

Still pretty pleased with himself Hunter said, "Just one! And it was only a blowjob."

Michael said sarcastically, "That's a relief." And then burst into a yell, "How could you?"

Hunter wasn't quite sure what Michael was so upset about. Michael knew he was a hustler, because they had met when Hunter was trying to pick up johns outside of Michael and Ben's apartment building. He knew that neither Ben nor Michael approved of what he had done for a living for a few years, but he didn't see why it would be such a big deal when they needed the money. Feeling slightly uneasy now, Hunter asked, "How could I what? We're broke. Isn't that what you said?"

Michael had a moment of clarity. He knew for a fact he had made the wrong decision to take Hunter on the run. Both he and Ben loved Hunter, and he thought they had made it perfectly clear that Hunter prostituting himself was not okay with either one of them. But Michael was breaking the rules by running, so Hunter must have thought it was okay for him to break the rules while on the run too. Michael calmly said with finality, "Okay, that's it. Let's go."

Hunter yanked his arm out of Michael's grasp and backed away a few steps. "No way, you promised!"

Michael grabbed his arm again and yelled, "I'm breaking it. Now c'mon!"

Getting scared and upset, Hunter yelled, "Get the fuck off me!" and yanked his arm out of Michael's again.

Michael leaned towards Hunter and said in his best 'Dad voice' which was actually a lot more like a 'Mom voice' then he'd like to admit, "Listen, you little asshole. I risked everything for you! Now you're gonna do what I tell you. We're gonna go back and fight and then we're gonna try to turn you into a normal human being which - at the moment? Flapping my arms and flying to the moon seems like a better bet."

He let that sink in for a few seconds while Hunter gave him a slightly nervous and unsure look. Then Michael raised his voice, pointed to the hotel and said with authority, "Move it!"

Hunter wasn't able to keep eye contact, and slowly turned and walked back to the hotel with Michael following closely behind him. As he walked he tried to put a name on what he was feeling. He'd only felt this way two other times. The first was when he overheard Ben and Michael talking about how they weren't getting through to him, and that maybe he'd be better off with someone else. The second was after both Michael and Ben had yelled at him for getting that evidence for Brian. He wasn't exactly ashamed of what he'd done. He'd felt ashamed plenty in his sixteen years, but that didn't really describe this. It wasn't fear, he knew that for sure, because the thought of having to go back to his mother made him so afraid he could wet himself. He suspected it was a mix of worry, and guilt. He wasn't sure, but he was sure he didn't like it.

They made it back to their hotel room quickly and Michael shut the door behind them. He held out his hand and said, "Give me the money."

Frowning, Hunter looked at it and said, "It's mine."

Glaring Michael said, "You got it illegally, so you don't get to keep it. If you'd been out shoplifting I wouldn't let you keep whatever you took either."

"It's not the same!"

"You're right it's not the same, shoplifting is a hell of a lot less dangerous and self destructive! Now hand over the God damn money."

Getting angry and still feeling worried and guilty, Hunter threw the money at Michael and said, "There! Take the fucking money! I can always get more!"

Michael's eyebrows shot up. "You can get more? Didn't you hear anything I said to you?"

Hunter turned away and sat down on his bed. "Whatever Dude. Just leave me alone."

After everything they'd been through over the past few months, Michael wasn't about to take that from someone he was starting to see as his son. He walked over and sat on the bed next to Hunter, and pulled him over his lap with a yank.

Hunter struggled and yelled, "What the fuck!!"

Michael wrapped one arm around Hunter's waste and brought his other hand down with a solid smack to the center of Hunter's jeans covered butt. Michael didn't say anything at first, and just concentrated on spanking. Hunter yelled, "You can't fucking do this to me! Michael! . Michael!! . Fucking pervert! You owe me a hundred for this! You hear me?!"

Michael stopped abruptly and looked over at the back of Hunter's head. Hunter looked back over his shoulder at Michael at the same time. Hunter expected to see horror written all over Michael's face, and he expected to get many embarrassed apologies out of him for what he'd done. He was shocked to see Michael looked both angry and disappointed at the same time without a hint of horror or embarrassment. Michael said with a calm voice, "You listen to me mister, I am getting zero enjoyment from this. I'm doing this for you, not for me. Ben and I love you, and we're not okay with you selling your body for money."

Michael looked back at Hunter's rear and started swatting again. Hunter wasn't sure how he felt about what Michael had said. He turned back to look at the floor in front of him and thought about it quietly for a few seconds, while his body was jerked forward repeatedly with swats.

After roughly forty solid swats, and only silence from Hunter, Michael stopped and said quietly, "I don't care if we're broke, and I don't care if you think you need the money. You are not to hustle ever again. It's dangerous. It's illegal. And frankly I think you should have more respect for yourself. You're a good person Hunter. Ben and I are gonna love you no matter what, but you need to love yourself enough to know that you're worth more then you're giving yourself credit for when you hustle."

Michael wasn't sure if he was getting through to Hunter or not, and started spanking again with more force. Hunter's head was spinning with all that information, and after a couple of harder swats he found silent tears spilling down his face. The pain was unpleasant, but his jeans gave him some protection, and he could deal with it. He couldn't deal with the things Michael was saying without crying.

After a few long seconds of heavy swats, Michael heard a loud sniff and some shaky breathing and realized Hunter was crying. He stopped and tried to figure out what to say as Hunter's crying got more obvious. After a good thirty seconds of listening to Hunter cry, Michael couldn't take it anymore. He took his arm off Hunter's waist, and pulled at his arm to get him up. Hunter slowly stood, and Michael pulled him down to sit next to him on the bed. Pulling Hunter into a strong hug, Michael was quiet and let him cry for a while.

Not sure why he was bawling over a few swats, or why he couldn't stop, Hunter hugged Michael back as hard as he could. Once the crying was getting quieter, Michael started rubbing Hunter's back and said, "It's gonna be okay. You're going to be okay. I hope you understand I'm not angry, I was just really scared when I couldn't find you. And when I think of you out there alone with some random guy, and all the things that could go wrong. Someone could really hurt you, even kill you."

Hunter got out a tearful, "I'm sorry."

"Well that's a start. Now tell me you're not gonna do it anymore."

"I won't. I won't do it anymore."

Michael hugged him tight once, and then let him go. He looked at Hunter, but Hunter chose to look at the floor and wipe at his face rather then look back. Michael put an arm around Hunter's shoulders and said, "Okay here's the plan. I'm going to go get us some dinner, and you're going to take a shower and get ready for bed. After we eat, you're going to bed and going to sleep. Then first thing in the morning we're going to head for home."

Hunter turned to look at Michael and said, "What if we don't win? What if I have to go back to her?" His voice cracked on the last word, and he found himself crying again.

Michael pulled Hunter back in for another hug. "If that happens Well I don't know what we're gonna do. But we're going to go back and fight the system. Ben and I want to keep you legally, but if the courts don't see it our way we'll figure something else out. I won't let you go back to her."

Hunter cried a little while longer, but found that he really did believe Michael. Once Hunter was under control again he let go of Michael. Michael patted his back and said, "Go take a shower while I get us some food."

Hunter nodded and went to get his pajamas out of his bag before heading in to the little bathroom. As soon as he heard the water go on, Michael picked the money up off the floor that Hunter had thrown at him. He went to the store across the street and got them both some pre-made sandwiches with chips. On his way back he saw a pay phone and couldn't help himself from stopping and calling Ben.

Ben answered, "Hello?"

"Hi."

"Michael? I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon."

"We're coming home."

The line was quite for a few seconds and Michael said, "Did you hear me? We're coming home."

Ben had been trying to convince them to come home for a while now and asked, "What changed your mind?"

"Hunter. The little shit just left while I was talking to you, and I couldn't find him for over an hour. Then when I did finally find him, he was waving money around pleased as punch that he'd gotten so much for just giving some trucker a blowjob."

Ben was so disappointed the only thing he could say was, "Damn it, when is he gonna get it through his head that that just isn't okay?"

"I think I got through to him tonight."

Ben could almost hear the earful that Michael would have given Hunter. "I don't know Mikey, we've yelled at him about it plenty of times before, and it doesn't seem to make a difference."

"I tried yelling, but it wasn't doing any good, so I . I spanked him."

The line was silent for a few seconds while Ben tried to get a grip on what he'd just heard. "I'm sorry, you what?"

"I know . It's hard for me to believe I did it too. I just I knew he wasn't taking it seriously, and wanted to prove that we love him enough to keep him from selling himself."

Ben was quiet for a few seconds. He didn't think that had been the best course of action, especially after all the times Hunter had been hurt before. But he also knew that Michael had grown to love Hunter as much as he did, so he tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. "How did he take it?"

"As well as can be expected I guess. He cried a lot, but I wasn't swatting him that hard. And once it was done he seemed better."

"Can I talk to him?"

"I'm not at the hotel room, but once I get back and get him fed I'll call you from the cell phone and you can talk to him."

"Okay. Hey Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Smiling, because Ben always seemed to know the right things to say, Michael said, "I love you too." Before hanging up.

Opening the hotel door Michael saw Hunter looking younger then usual in his pajamas, sitting on the edge of the bed obviously anxious and still emotional about what had happened. Hunter darted his eyes up to Michael's for a second and then looked back down at the carpet wondering what to do now. Michael shut the door behind him and handed Hunter a sandwich and a bag of chips before sitting down on his own bed and opening his food. He said, "Eat up."

Hunter unwrapped his sandwich and started to eat. After a few seconds he said quietly, "Thanks for getting me ham."

Michael knew it was Hunter's favorite, and that Ben didn't like them to eat it much because it wasn't all that healthy. "Sure."

They ate quietly for a few minutes, the silence slightly unnatural for the two of them, but neither one really knowing what to say. After Hunter had finished his sandwich, and was opening his chips Michael said, "I called Ben."

Hunter stopped and looked at Michael with surprise. Michael said, "He wants you to call him."

Hunter found his heart beating faster and asked, "Is he mad too?" He didn't think he could handle Ben yelling at him without breaking down into tears again.

Michael wanted to reassure Hunter, but didn't want to lie either. "I'm not sure. I know he's disappointed with what you did, but I don't think he's mad. Well actually I think he's a little mad at me for spanking you. He mostly just wants to check and see if you're all right."

"You told him?!"

"Of course I told him."

"Like it wasn't embarrassing enough to begin with?!"

Sighing Michael said, "Ben loves you just as much as I do, and we're in a committed relationship which means we don't keep secrets from each other."

Hunter looked kind of pissed still, but didn't say anything. Michael handed him the cell phone. Hunter looked down at it and back at Michael. Michael said, "Go on."

Turning it on, Hunter dialed the number that he had started to think of as his home number and waited. Ben picked up before the first ring was over. "Hunter?"

Hearing the worry in Ben's voice, Hunter blushed a little, "Hi Ben."

"How are you doing Pal?"

Hunter felt himself getting choked up again at Ben's warm and caring voice. He gave him an unconvincing, "Okay."

Ben could hear that Hunter was obviously still upset, and wished he could be there to help both him and Michael. He said quietly, "You wanna tell me what happened?"

Hunter's vision became blurry. He took a deep breath to try and stop the crying before it started. "Not really."

"I'd like to hear it from your point of view."

Standing, Hunter turned his back on Michael and walked a few steps away so that he wouldn't have to see his face while talking. As he was talking the tears spilled over and he was sure Ben would be able to hear a few shaky intakes of breath over the line in between sentences. "Mikey said we were out of money. And I knew it was my fault and I wanted to help."

"Hey Pal, it's not your fault. Mikey was the one who decided to run, not you."

"I guess."

After a few seconds of silence Ben said, "What happened next?"

"So I " For some reason it sounded dirty now. He'd never had a problem saying it before, but now it was hard. He muttered out quickly, "I gave some guy a blowjob."

Ben kept his voice calm but firm, "Even though you know that Michael and I both want you to stop hustling?"

Hunter wiped the tears off his face, sniffed loudly and said, "Yeah."

"I think that was a bad choice."

"Yeah, Michael did too."

Sighing at the sorrow he heard in Hunter's voice, Ben said, "He told me that he spanked you."

Hunter's voice broke again as he said, "Yeah he did."

Ben didn't want to seem callous to Hunter's crying, but he also didn't want Hunter to think he disagreed with what Michael had done. He wanted to present a united front, so he made a decision and said, "I hope that makes you think twice before doing it again, because if there's a next time it's going to be my turn to spank you."

Hunter wailed, "Noooo!"

"I won't want to do it, but I will. I want you to know without a doubt that Michael and I are serious about you turning your life around. You're going to come home, go back to school, and keep yourself safe. I fully believe that we can win custody of you in court when you get back here, so you're going to be a part of our family for a long time to come."

Not hearing a response other then some sobs, Ben said, "I love you Hunter, and I'll see you tomorrow. Put Michael on the phone please."

Hunter shoved the phone in Michael's hand, and dove into his bed pulling the covers up over his head. Michael put the phone to his ear and said, "Jesus Ben, what did you say?"

Ben sighed again. "I told him that the next time he went out hustling I'd be spanking him."

Michael was surprised. He didn't figure Ben to be the type. But then if he really thought about it, he didn't consider himself to be the type to spank his kid either. He looked over at the lump that was Hunter and could hear the muffled crying. Michael got up and sat next to Hunter on the bed, and rubbed Hunter's back in what he hoped were soothing circles and said, "But that's not gonna happen, because Hunter's done with hustling. Right Buddy?"

The lump nodded. Michael said to Ben, "I'm gonna go. We're going to get some sleep, and get up early tomorrow to come home."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

Michael hung up and kept rubbing Hunter's back. He said, "And we both love you. Things are gonna look better tomorrow. Get some sleep." Michael patted Hunter's back and then got himself ready for bed as well.